Hello friends, family, and followers (who may all be the same person)!
This month comprised incremental changes which have added up to a big difference in weather. Having finally gotten my hair cut yesterday I can especially feel how much cooler it is now and I've started wearing a ski hat indoors (because we have no heat here).
I've also had some great times and experiences, having enjoyed a visit from my boys and several beautiful kayaking floats on the White and Muskegon rivers.
In keeping with my new blogging methodology, I'll add just a few representative pictures here and post a link to a shared album with all the others for those who want a more in-depth view.
We start with the boys' visit. In proper young-man tradition they caught up on a lot of sleep (the weather was wet for the first part of their visit but turned nice near the end):
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| We had a fun time investigating some beachfront acreage listed up north which included scrambling down and up a muddy hillside. |
Max backflipping off a dune like a boss!
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| First day on the river. This float from Croton Dam to Newago, about 13 winding river miles... |
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| ...followed by a 7 mile bike ride to return to where I'd left Vanessa (I had previously purchased this bike for $99 at Walmart and locked it at my intended take-out point, then proceeded up river to the put-in point). Vanessa easily swallows a kayak and a bike! In fact, |
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| We then had a super windy/wavy day which ate away about another 5 feet of our cliff. |
Video of big waves/wind on lake
This one shows how strong the wind was by how far it blew the rope swing.
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| I think we lost yet another 3 feet of cliff after this shot was taken. |
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| Another day on the river, but this time the White, which is a very different experience than the Muskegon, being much smaller and more intimate. The Muskegon is wide enough that there's no trouble avoiding obstacles (fallen trees) near the shore, but fallen trees can often cross the White entirely. Happily someone with a chainsaw apparently maintains the navigability by cutting a path through most of the obstacles, at least lower down, but in recent trips further up the river I've come to sections where recent fallen trees necessitate portaging of some kind. |
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| Part of what I really enjoy about kayaking is watching the bottom of the river go by, which is especially facilitated by polarized sunglasses! |
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| A few trees are starting to change color but most not yet, the exceptions proving the rule. |
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| All the summer frolickers have gone home and I have the beach to myself now. |
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| This is how high the cliff to our shore has become as the waves eat away at the cliff, necessitating the use of a rope to get back up! |
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| Deer tracks, which reminds me of a couple other great wildlife sightings I've had recently; in addition to the standard kingfishers, blue herons, turtles, ducks, and trout on the river, I saw some sort of eagle (it had a large white patch on its lower back), and several deer both drinking from the lake down on our shore (one night as I was enjoying a beach fire) and bounding away from me on the shore and also across the White in front of me while I was floating. |
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| Darcy and Eddie came for a visit and we had a nice float on the Muskegon with Darcy's sister Shannon. |
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| Last night's sunset was crazy cool. |
Finally, a video of the scene above.
And here's a link to the entire album of pictures if you want to see what I left out.
Ciao for now, then!
